MIMO wireless data communication system, MIMO wireless data communication method and MIMO wireless data communication apparatus

ABSTRACT

In a MIMO wireless communication system, the transformation process synthesizes the eigenmodes having a large singular value (i.e. a high effective SNR) and the eigenmodes having a small singular value (i.e. a low effective SNR). Thereby, the former eigenmodes are converted into modes having suppressed effective SNR which do not require a large number of levels of modulation, and the latter eigenmodes are converted into modes having increased effective SNR instead. In a MIMO wireless communication system for eigenmode transmission, a large communication capacity is realized without increasing the number of levels of modulation even in a communication environment capable of achieving a high SNR.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from Japanese applicationJP2006-134691 filed on May 15, 2006, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)wireless communication method for communications between a sending ortransmission terminal having a plurality of antennas and a receiving orreception terminal having a plurality of antennas and a MIMO wirelesscommunication apparatus for communications by the MIMO wirelesscommunication method. More particularly, the present invention relatesto a MIMO wireless communication method and apparatus for communicationsat a high transmission rate if a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio is high foran eigenmode transmission method which is one type of the MIMOcommunication method.

2. Description of the Related Art

A communication method has advanced toward a large capacity because ofrecent expansion of communication demands. This trend is remarkable alsoin wireless communications. For example, a communication capacityexpands also in wireless LAN standards IEEE802.11 defined by Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc (IEEE) which standardizesLocal Area Networks (LAN). A communication capacity was initially set to2 Mbps in IEEE802.11, then expanded to a maximum of 11 Mbps inIEEE802.11b and a maximum of 54 Mbps in IEEE802.11a and 11g, and isexpected to be set to a maximum of 600 Mbps in IEEE802.11n whosestandardization will be completed in 2007.

MIMO technologies are adopted in IEEE802.11n and the like as an approachto realizing a large capacity of wireless communications. FIG. 2 is aschematic diagram showing a MIMO wireless communication system. Atransmission terminal has N transmission antennas 202 and a receptionterminal has N reception antennas 203. A transmission antenna signalvector t is defined by a formula (1) by representing signals transmittedfrom the transmission antennas 202-1 to 202-N by t1 to tN, respectively:

$\begin{matrix}{t = \begin{pmatrix}t_{1} \\\vdots \\t_{N}\end{pmatrix}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

Similarly, a reception antenna signal vector r is defined by a formula(2) by representing signals received at the reception antennas 203-1 to203-N by r1 to rN, respectively:

$\begin{matrix}{r = \begin{pmatrix}r_{1} \\\vdots \\r_{N}\end{pmatrix}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

Transformation from t to r can be expressed by a linear transformationof a formula (3):r=Ht  (3)

A matrix H representative of this linear transformation is called achannel matrix. Noises are generated at the same time in an actual case.Therefore, noise components n are added as in a formula (4):r=Ht+n  (4)

The channel matrix can be estimated at the reception terminal bytransmitting a known signal from the transmission terminal to thereception terminal. This is called channel matrix estimation, and thetransmitted known signal is called a training signal. The channel matrixestimation is conducted before MIMO wireless communications areperformed.

In FIG. 2, transmission data signals are represented by x1 to xN,reception data signals are represented by y1 to yN, a transmission datasignal vector x is defined by a formula (5), and a reception data vectory is defined by a formula (6):

$\begin{matrix}{x = \begin{pmatrix}x_{1} \\\vdots \\x_{N}\end{pmatrix}} & (5) \\{y = \begin{pmatrix}y_{1} \\\vdots \\y_{N}\end{pmatrix}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

A transmission antenna weight unit 201 in the transmission terminaltransforms x into t by linear transformation. A reception antenna weightunit 204 in the reception terminal transforms r into y by lineartransformation. The simplest method of realizing MIMO wirelesscommunications is a zero-forcing (ZF) method of using a transmissionantenna weight as a unit matrix and a reception antenna weight as aninverse matrix of H. According to the ZF method, a relation between xand y is expressed by a formula (7):

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{y = {H^{- 1}r}} \\{= {H^{- 1}\left( {{Ht} + n} \right)}} \\{= {t + {H^{- 1}n}}} \\{= {x + {H^{- 1}n}}}\end{matrix} & (7)\end{matrix}$

By cancelling H by its inverse matrix, it becomes possible to recoverthe transmission data signal at the reception terminal. However, noisesare amplified by the inverse matrix of H.

Apart from the ZF method, there is a method called an eigenmodetransmission method of realizing MIMO wireless communications. First,this method performs singular value decomposition (SVD) of H expressedby a formula (8):H=USV^(H)  (8)

S is a diagonal matrix whose all elements are positive real numbers, andU and V are unitary matrices. A superscript H of V means Hermitianconjugate (=transpose+complex conjugate). Diagonal elements of S arecalled singular values. It is assumed that elements of S are called afirst singular value, a second singular value, . . . starting from theupper left element, and arranged in the order of larger singular values.The transmission antenna weight is represented by V and the receptionantenna weight is represented by Hermitian conjugate of U. A relationbetween x and y in the eigenmode transmission method is expressed by aformula (9):

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{y = {U^{H}r}} \\{= {U^{H}\left( {{Ht} + n} \right)}} \\{= {U^{H}\left( {{{USV}^{H} \cdot {Vx}} + n} \right)}} \\{= {{Sx} + {U^{H}n}}}\end{matrix} & (9)\end{matrix}$

This utilizes the property that Hermitian conjugate of a unitary matrixis equal to the inverse matrix. A signal multiplying the transmissiondata signal by the singular value is obtained separately from thereception data signal when considering that the amplitude of noises n atthe last term in the formula (9) does not change at all because of theproperty of the unitary matrix and that S is the diagonal matrix. Datacommunications from x1 to y1 are called a first eigenmode, andsequentially thereafter data communications are called a secondeigenmode, a third eigenmode, . . . . In each eigenmode, a transmissiongain (loss if smaller than 1) of a square of the singular value isobtained. It is commonly known that the eigenmode transmission method isthe MIMO wireless communication method capable of realizing the largestcommunication capacity.

However, as different from the ZF method, the eigenmode transmissionmethod is required to set the transmission antenna weight to the matrixcalculated from H. Further, since H is estimated at the receptionterminal, it is necessary for the reception terminal to feed backinformation on H to the transmission terminal. Therefore, information isrequired to be transferred as shown in FIG. 3. It is to be noted thatboth the transmission and reception terminals have a transmission andreception function. First, the transmission terminal transmits trainingdata, and the reception terminal receives it and estimates the channelmatrix. The channel matrix is returned to the transmission terminalwhich in turn determines the transmission antenna weight from SVD of thechannel matrix. Next, after executing a transmission antenna weightprocess, the transmission terminal transmits a training signal, and thereception terminal estimates again the channel matrix from the receivedtraining signal to determine the reception antenna weight. Thereafter,the transmission terminal transmits a transmission data signal subjectedto the transmission antenna weight process, and the reception terminalrecovers data by the reception antenna weight to thereby establish datacommunications. Although the transmission terminal determines thetransmission antenna weight by SVD as shown in FIG. 3, the transmissionantenna weight may be determined at the reception terminal as shown inFIG. 4. In this case, the transmission antenna weight is fed back.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, first SVD does not determine the reception antennaweight, but the reception antenna weight is separately determined byobtaining the channel matrix by using the training signal subjected tothe transmission antenna weight process. A channel matrix H′ to beestimated in this case is expressed by a formula (10):

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{H^{\prime} = {HV}} \\{= {{USV}^{H} \cdot V}} \\{= {US}}\end{matrix} & (10)\end{matrix}$

If the ZF method is used for determining the reception antenna weight, areception antenna weight R is expressed by a formula (11):

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{R = H^{\prime - 1}} \\{= ({US})^{- 1}} \\{= {S^{- 1}U^{H}}}\end{matrix} & (11)\end{matrix}$

Therefore, a relation between x and y can be expressed by a formula(12):

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{y = {S^{- 1}U^{H}r}} \\{= {S^{- 1}{U^{H}\left( {{Ht} + n} \right)}}} \\{= {S^{- 1}{U^{H}\left( {{{USV}^{H} \cdot {Vx}} + n} \right)}}} \\{= {x + {S^{- 1}U^{H}n}}}\end{matrix} & (12)\end{matrix}$

Namely, in an n-th eigenmode, an amplitude of noises change with aninverse of an n-th singular value, and SNR changes in proportion to asquare of a singular value. It is widely known that there are also aminimum mean square error (MMSE) method and a maximum likelihooddetection (MLD) method, as the method of determining the receptionantenna weight.

The reasons why the method described above is used are as follows. Thefirst reason is to deal with a temporal change of the channel matrix.Even if the channel matrix has changed prior to data transmission, it ispossible to set the reception antenna weight matching the currentchannel matrix so that reception characteristics can be prevented frombeing degraded. The second reason is that feedback information can bemade less. In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)communications such as those used in wireless LAN, it is necessary toset the transmission antenna weight for each subcarrier so that theamount of feedback information is very large. Since the feedbackinformation is properly thinned from this reason, there may exist alarge difference between the transmission antenna weight and the weightobtained through SVD of the channel matrix. However, since the receptionantennal weight is set by considering the influence of the actually usedtransmission antenna weight, the characteristics can be prevented frombeing degraded.

FIG. 6 shows a probability distribution of a transmission (path) gaincalculated from a square of a singular value. It is assumed that fourtransmission antennas and four reception antennas are used and eachelement of the channel matrix is an independent probability variable(Rayleigh fading) in conformity with the Rayleigh distribution. Atransmission loss from each transmission antenna to each receptionantenna is set to 0 dB. For reference, single-input single-output (SISO)with one transmission antenna and one reception antenna is also shown.SISO has an average transmission gain of 0 dB as the assumed conditionshows. In contrast, in MIMO the fourth eigenmode has an averagetransmission loss of 8 dB, whereas the first eigenmode has an averagetransmission gain of about 10 dB. Therefore, for example, in acommunication environment capable of obtaining a communication SNR of 30dB, the first eigenmode can achieve an effective SNR of 40 dB.Therefore, in order to effectively utilize the first eigenmode, it isimportant to adopt modulation of a large number of levels and transmit alarge amount of information.

However, for modulation of a large number of levels, a radio frequency(RF) circuit is required to have a high precision. Factors degrading aprecision of an RF circuit include IQ mismatch, power amplifiernon-linearity and the like. At a precision of a circuit currently usedin wireless LAN, a limit of modulation is up to 64 QAM modulation, and256 QAM modulation or higher is very difficult. Therefore, IEEE802.11aand 11g adopt only four schema BPSK, WPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM and cannotadopt 256 QAM. Even IEEE802.11n incorporating MIMO has a policy of notusing 256 QAM. Therefore, even if a high SNR can be achieved, the numberof levels of modulation cannot be made large, not leading to expansionof a communication capacity.

A method of solving this problem is proposed in JP-A-2005-323217 and“Studies on transmission method considering non-linear strain inMIMO-OFDM” by Yasuhiro TANABE, Hiroki SHOUGI, Hirofumi TSURUMI, 2005,The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers,Composite Meetings, B-5-79. With this method, in a MIMO-OFDM wirelesscommunication system for eigenmode transmission, the same modulationlevel is used for all subcarriers and all eigenmodes, and outputs of anerror-correcting coder are sequentially assigned to differentsubcarriers. During this assignment, the eigenmode is changed for eachsubcarrier. With this method, the modulation number of levels ofmodulation becomes too large relative to the singular value in theeigenmode having a small singular value so that errors occur frequently.Conversely in the eigenmode having a large singular value,the number oflevels of modulation is small relative to the singular value so thaterrors are hard to occur. Therefore, the error-correcting processcorrects errors occurred in the eigenmode having a small singular value,and communications with a large communication capacity is possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention realizes a large communication capacity withoutincreasing the number of levels of modulation even in a communicationenvironment capable of achieving a high SNR, in a MIMO wirelesscommunication system for eigenmode transmission.

As described above, a method of solving this problem is proposed inJP-A-2005-323217 and “Studies on transmission method consideringnon-linear strain in MIMO-OFDM”. However, this method deals with onlymulticarrier transmission such as OFDM. Further, this method cannotsolve the problem that the number of levels of modulation cannot be madelarge in the first eigenmode which inherently obtains a high effectiveSNR.

In the MIMO wireless communication system of the present invention,after singular values and a transmission antenna weight are determinedby singular value decomposition of a channel matrix, a transmissionstream weight is calculated. When data is to be transmitted, atransformation process using the calculated transmission stream weightis executed immediately before a transmission antenna weight process.This transformation process synthesizes the eigenmodes having a largesingular value (i.e. a high effective SNR) and the eigenmodes having asmall singular value (i.e. a low effective SNR). Thereby, the formereigenmodes are converted into modes having suppressed effective SNRwhich do not require a large number of levels of modulation, and thelatter eigenmodes are converted into modes having increased effectiveSNR instead.

FIGS. 7A to 7C are schematic diagrams illustrating mode transformationby the transmission stream weight. In these drawings, it is assumed thatthree transmission antennas and three reception antennas are used. FIG.7A illustrates three eigenmodes obtained in conventional eigenmodetransmission. An effective SNR is represented by a pipe thickness. x1 tox3 are three transmission data signals, and y1 to y3 are three receptiondata signals. In this case, it is assumed that an SNR in the eigenmodeof communications from x1 to y1 is high and the state is that an optimumnumber of levels of modulation cannot be selected. In this case, thetransmission stream weight synthesizes the first eigenmode and thesecond eigenmode. FIG. 7B shows the state that the transmission streamweight is adopted. Since x1 and x2 are transmitted by using both thefirst and second eigenmodes, the effective SNR of both the signals is anintermediate value of the first eigenmode SNR and second eigenmode SNRas shown in FIG. 7C. Since too high an SNR state is improved,communications become possible by selecting an optimum number of levelsof modulation and a communication capacity can be expanded. Although itis necessary to adopt the reception antenna weight as well as thereception stream weight as the transmission stream weight is adopted,this can be dealt with by estimating the channel matrix from thetraining signal after the transmission stream weight is adopted, anddetermining the reception antenna weight from the estimated channelmatrix.

If SNR is high not only in the first eigenmode but also in the secondand succeeding eigenmodes, three or more eigenmodes are synthesized inthe order of larger singular values.

It is necessary to conserve a total transmission power between and afteradopting the transmission stream weight and to maintain independencebetween transmission data signals. It is therefore necessary that thetransmission stream weight is a unitary matrix. It is easy and simple toadopt W expressed by a formula (13) as the transmission stream weightwhen the first to n-th eigenmodes are to be synthesized.

$\begin{matrix}{{W = \begin{pmatrix}w_{0} & w_{1} & \ldots & w_{n - 1}\end{pmatrix}}{w_{i} = {\frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}\begin{pmatrix}{\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{0}{n}{\mathbb{i}}} \right)} \\{\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{1}{n}{\mathbb{i}}} \right)} \\\vdots \\{\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{n - 1}{n}{\mathbb{i}}} \right)}\end{pmatrix}}}} & (13)\end{matrix}$

All elements of Ws have the same absolute value so that all eigenmodescan be synthesized at the equal weight.

In determining the number of eigenmodes to be synthesized, alleigenmodes having a communication quality indicator larger than a presetvalue and the eigenmode having the largest singular value among theremaining eigenmodes are adopted. An effective SNR can be used as thecommunication quality indicator. If SNR is determined, the communicationcapacity can be calculated, and the number of levels of modulation andcoding rate necessary for achieving the communication capacity can bedetermined. Therefore, the preset value to be used for judgement ofeigenmode synthesis can be determined by calculating the correspondingSNR from the largest number of levels of modulation and coding levelcapable of being adopted in the actual communication system. Similarly,a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) may be used as thecommunication quality indicator.

According to the present invention, in the MIMO wireless communicationsystem for eigenmode transmission, a communication capacity can beexpanded by relaxing a limit in an upper number of levels of modulation,even in a high SNR communication environment.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a Shannon' communication capacity when thepresent invention is applied to the case in which the number oftransmission/reception antennas is 4, an upper limit in levels ofmodulation is 64 QAM and an error-correcting code coding rate is ¾.Transmission was assumed in conformity with non-correlation Rayleighfading. In addition to the present invention method, a zero forcingmethod and a conventional eigenmode transmission method are also shown.It can be seen from this graph that the present invention method canachieve the largest communication capacity. At an average SNR=25 dB, thecommunication capacity can be improved by 2.5 dB as compared to theconventional eigenmode transmission method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a sequence of wireless communications of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a MIMO wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence of communications by aconventional eigenmode transmission MIMO communication method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence of communications by aconventional eigenmode transmission MIMO communication method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a sequence of wireless communications of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a probability distribution of transmissiongains of eigenmode MIMO communications with four transmission antennasand four reception antennas.

FIGS. 7A to 7C are schematic diagrams illustrating synthesis ofeigenmodes in a wireless communication method of the present indention.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a relation between a communication capacityand an average SNR.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a wireless communicationapparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a wireless communicationapparatus of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows a sequence of a MIMO wireless communication methodaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1,although data is transmitted from a transmission terminal to a receptionterminal, both the terminals have the function of both transmission andreception so that control information and the like can be transferredtherebetween.

First, the transmission terminal transmits training data, and thereception terminal receives the training data. Training data is alreadyknown signals defined by specifications or the like, and the channelmatrix can be estimated by monitoring a change in the amplitude andphase of the known signals. Next, the reception terminal returns thechannel matrix obtained through estimation and communication qualityinformation to the transmission terminal. SNR or RSSI may be used as thecommunication quality information. The transmission terminal receivesthe returned channel matrix and communication quality information. Thereceived channel matrix is subjected to singular value decomposition toobtain the transmission antenna weight for the eigenmode transmissionmethod and singular values of each eigenmode. A communication qualityindicator of each eigenmode is calculated from the obtained singularvalues and received communication quality indicator to determine eacheigenmode to be synthesized by using the communication qualityindicator. An effective SNR or RSSI of each eigenmode may be used as thecommunication quality indicator of each eigenmode. For eigenmodes to besynthesized, eigenmodes exceeding a preset reference effective SNR orRSSI and the eigenmode having the largest singular value among theremaining eigenmodes are synthesized. Next, a transmission stream weightfor synthesizing the determined eigenmodes is determined. As an easy andsimple approach, the transmission stream weight is calculated by theformula (13). Thereafter, training data subjected to transmission streamweight and transmission antenna weight processes are transmitted.

The reception terminal received the training data estimates a channelmatrix. By using this channel matrix, the reception antenna weight iscalculated. For calculating the reception antenna weight, the zeroforming method, MMSE method, MLD method or the like may be used. Theestimated channel matrix contains transformation of the transmissionstream weight and transmission antenna weight. Therefore, by using thecalculated reception antenna weight, the transmission data signal can berecovered by cancelling out the transformation. Lastly, the transmissionterminal transmits a transmission data signal subjected to transmissionstream weight and transmission antenna weight processes. The receptionterminal can recover the data signal by using the reception antennaweight. With the procedure described above, communications can beestablished between the transmission and reception terminals.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 5 shows a sequence of a MIMO wireless communication methodaccording to the second embodiment of the present invention. Similar tothe first embodiment, in FIG. 5, although data is transmitted from atransmission terminal to a reception terminal, both the terminals havethe function of both transmission and reception so that controlinformation and the like can be transferred therebetween.

First, the transmission terminal transmits training data, and thereception terminal receives the training data. Training data is alreadyknown signals defined by specifications or the like, and the channelmatrix can be estimated by monitoring a change in the amplitude andphase of the known signals. Next, the reception terminal makes thechannel matrix obtained through estimation be subjected to singularvalue decomposition to obtain the transmission antenna weight for theeigenmode transmission method and singular values of each eigenmode. Acommunication quality indicator of each eigenmode is calculated from theobtained singular values and communication quality indicator todetermine each eigenmode to be synthesized by using the communicationquality indicator. An effective SNR or RSSI of each eigenmode may beused as the communication quality indicator of each eigenmode. Foreigenmodes to be synthesized, eigenmodes exceeding a preset referenceeffective SNR or RSSI and the eigenmode having the largest singularvalue among the remaining eigenmodes are synthesized. Next, atransmission stream weight for synthesizing the determined eigenmodes isdetermined. As an easy and simple approach, the transmission streamweight is calculated by the formula (13). The determined transmissionstream weight and transmission antenna weight are returned to thetransmission terminal. Since the transmission stream weight andtransmission antenna weight can be synthesized by a matrix product, thesynthesized transmission weight is returned to reduce the amount ofinformation to be returned.

The transmission terminal receives the synthesized transmission weightand transmits training data subjected to the transmission weightprocess. The reception terminal receives the training data and estimatesa channel matrix. By using this channel matrix, the reception antennaweight is calculated. For calculating the reception antenna weight, thezero forming method, MMSE method, MLD method or the like may be used.The estimated channel matrix contains transformation of the transmissionweight. Therefore, by using the calculated reception antenna weight, thetransmission data signal can be recovered by cancelling out thetransformation. Lastly, the transmission terminal transmits atransmission data signal subjected to the transmission weight process,and the reception terminal can recover the data signal by using thereception antenna weight. With the procedure described above,communications can be established between the transmission and receptionterminals.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a wireless communicationapparatus for communications by the MIMO wireless communication methodof the present invention, according to the third embodiment.

The wireless communication apparatus shown in FIG. 9 has N antennas101-1 to 101-N and are connected to switches 102-1 to 102-N,respectively. The switch 102 interconnects a transmission circuit and anantenna for transmission by the wireless communication apparatus, andinterconnects a reception circuit and the antenna for reception by thewireless communication apparatus. The switch 102 is required in a systemadopting a time division duplex (TDD) method often used by wireless LAN,and is equipped with a filter called a duplexer in a system adopting afrequency division duplex (FDD) method often used by mobile phones.

For reception, the switch 102 interconnects the antenna 101 and areception analog RF circuit 103. The reception analog RF circuitperforms down-conversion to convert a reception signal into a basebandanalog signal. An output of the reception analog RF circuit is suppliedto an AD converter 104 which converts the baseband analog signal into adigital signal. An output of the AD converter 104 is supplied to a FFTprocessing unit 105. The FFT processing unit 105 composes the receptionsignal into subcarriers of OFDM. Since wireless LAN adopts OFDM, the FFTprocessing unit 105 is necessary. However, the FFT processing unit 105is not necessary for a communication method using single carriertransmission. An output of the FFT processing unit 105 is branched totwo signals. One signal is supplied to a channel matrix estimating unit110 which estimates the channel matrix when a training signal isreceived. An output of the channel matrix estimating unit is connectedto two blocks. One block is a reception antenna weight calculating unit111 which calculates a reception antenna weight from the estimatedchannel matrix by the zero forcing method, MMSE method or MLD method.The other output of the branched outputs of the FFT processing unit 105and an output of the reception antennal weigh processing unit 111 areinput to a reception antenna weight processing unit 106 which recoversthe reception data signal by using the reception antenna weightcalculated by the reception antenna weight calculating unit 111, whenreception data signal recovery is necessary. The recovered data signalis input to a demodulator 107 which converts the recovered data signalinto bit data. An output of the demodulator 107 is input to an errorcorrection decoding and parallel/serial converter 108 to perform errorcorrection decoding and parallel/serial conversion. An output of theerror correction decoding and parallel/serial converter 108 is input toa channel information extracting unit 109 which, if the reception datais the channel matrix and communication quality information on acommunication partner, extracts these pieces of information. If thereception data is other information, the information is passed to theupper layer. The channel matrix extracted by the channel informationextracting unit 109 is input to a singular value decompositionprocessing unit 112 to perform singular value decomposition. Atransmission antenna weight determined by this unit 112 is passed to atransmission antenna weight processing unit 117. The singular values areinput to a transmission stream weight calculating unit 113. Thetransmission stream weight calculating unit 113 evaluates acommunication quality indicator of each eigenmode by using the singularvalues to determine a transmission stream weight. The determinedtransmission stream weight is input to a transmission stream weightprocessing unit 118.

Communication data is passed from the upper layer to a channelinformation adding unit 122. An output of the branched outputs of thechannel matrix estimating unit 110 is also input to the channelinformation adding unit 122, and if the channel matrix to be transmittedexists, the channel matrix is transmitted before communication data. Anoutput of the channel information adding unit 122 is input to aserial/parallel conversion and error correction encoding unit 121 toperform serial/parallel conversion and error correction encoding. Anoutput of the serial/parallel conversion and error correction encodingunit 121 is modulated by a modulator 120 and thereafter input to atraining signal adding unit 119 which adds the training signal ifnecessary and transmits it. An output of the training signal adding unit119 is processed by a transmission stream weight processing unit 118 anda transmission antenna weight processing unit 117. Since the processesat the transmission stream weight processing unit 118 and transmissionantenna weight processing unit 117 are both the matrix calculation, onetransmission weight process is sufficient if the transmission streamweight and transmission antenna weight are synthesized beforehand by amatrix product. An output of the transmission antenna weight processingunit 117 is converted by an IFFT processing unit 116 from an OFDMsubcarrier signal into a time domain signal. Similar to the FFTprocessing unit 105, the IFFT processing unit 116 is unnecessary for thecommunication method using single carrier transmission. An output of theIFFT processing unit 116 is converted into an analog signal by a DAconverter 115, and thereafter a transmission analog RF circuit 114performs up-conversion and is connected to the switch 102. For signaltransmission, the switch 102 interconnects the antenna 101 andtransmission RF circuit 114.

Description will now be made on the operation of the wirelesscommunication apparatus shown in FIG. 9 with reference to the wirelesscommunication procedure shown in FIG. 1. Both the transmission andreception terminals have the structure of the wireless communicationapparatus shown in FIG. 9. When training data is transmitted from thetransmission terminal, the training signal adding unit 119 adds atraining signal for transmission. In this case, the transmission antennaweight processing unit 117 and transmission stream weight processingunit 118 do not perform the weight process. Next, the reception terminalreceives the training signal. At this time, the channel matrixestimating unit 110 estimates the channel matrix, adds the channelinformation estimated at the channel information adding unit 122, andreturns the channel information to the transmission terminal. Thetransmission terminal receives the channel information, the channelinformation extracting unit 109 extracts the channel matrix, and thesingular value decomposition processing unit 112 performs singular valuedecomposition. In accordance with a result of singular valuedecomposition, a transmission antenna weight is sent to the transmissionantenna weight processing unit 117. By using the singular value, thetransmission stream weight calculating unit 113 calculates atransmission stream weight and sends it to the transmission streamweight processing unit 118. Thereafter, the training signal adding unit119 adds the training signal for transmission toward the receptionterminal. In this case, processing is made by the transmission antennaweight processing unit 117 and transmission stream weight processingunit 118, by using the set transmission weight. The reception terminalreceives the training signal, and the channel matrix estimating unit 110estimates the channel matrix. By using the estimated channel matrix, thereception antenna calculating unit 111 calculates the reception antennaweight and sets it to the reception antenna weight processing unit 106.Thereafter, the transmission terminal performs the transmission weightprocess so that a transmission data signal can be transmitted, and thereception terminal can recover the data signal by using the receptionantenna weight, to thus establish communications.

As described above, with the operation of the wireless communicationapparatus shown in FIG. 9, a large communication capacity can berealized without increasing the number of levels of modulation, even ina high SNR communication environment.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a wireless communicationapparatus for communications by the MIMO wireless communication methodof the present invention, according to the fourth embodiment.

Most of the structures of the wireless communication apparatus shown inFIG. 10 are the same as those of the wireless communication apparatusshown in FIG. 9. A different point from FIG. 9 resides in the positionsof the singular value decomposition processing unit 112 and transmissionstream weight calculating unit 113. With this arrangement, singularvalue decomposition and transmission stream weight calculation areperformed at the reception terminal.

The channel matrix estimated by the channel matrix estimating unit 110is input to the reception antenna weight calculating unit 111 andsingular value decomposition processing unit 112. A transmission antennaweight obtained by the singular value decomposition processing unit 112is passed to the channel information adding unit 122. Singular valuesare input to the transmission stream weight calculating unit 117 whichdetermines the transmission stream weight and passes it to the channelinformation adding unit 122. Although the channel information addingunit 122 has a function of returning the transmission weight to thetransmission terminal, the transmission stream weight and transmissionantenna weight can be synthesized by a matrix product. Therefore, asynthesized transmission weight is returned in order to reduce theamount of information to be returned.

When the transmission weight is returned, the channel informationextracting unit 109 extracts the transmission antenna weight andtransmission stream weight, and sets the weights to the transmissionantenna weight processing unit 117 and transmission stream weightprocessing unit 118, respectively. However, as described above, if thetransmission weight synthesizing the transmission antenna weight andtransmission stream weight by a matrix product is to be returned, oneprocessing unit is sufficient for executing the transmission weightprocess by using the synthesized transmission weight.

Description will now be made on the operation of the wirelesscommunication apparatus shown in FIG. 10 with reference to the wirelesscommunication procedure shown in FIG. 5. Both the transmission andreception terminals have the structure of the wireless communicationapparatus shown in FIG. 10. When training data is to be transmitted fromthe transmission terminal, the training signal adding unit 119 adds atraining signal for transmission. In this case, the transmission antennaweight processing unit 117 and transmission stream weight processingunit 118 do not perform the weight process. Next, the reception terminalreceives the training signal. At this time, the channel matrixestimating unit 110 estimates the channel matrix, and the singular valuedecomposition processing unit 112 performs singular value decomposition.In accordance with a result of singular value decomposition, atransmission antenna weight is sent to the channel information addingunit 122. By using the singular values, the transmission stream weightcalculating unit 113 evaluates the communication quality indicator ofeach eigenmode, calculates a transmission stream weight and sends it tothe channel information adding unit 122. The channel information addingunit 122 adds transmission weight data to return it to the transmissionterminal. The transmission terminal receives the transmission weightdata, and the channel information extracting unit 109 extracts thetransmission weight and sets it to the transmission antenna weightprocessing unit 117 and transmission stream weight calculating unit 113.Thereafter, the training signal adding unit 119 adds a training signaland transmits it toward the reception terminal. In this case, processingis made by the transmission antenna weight processing unit 117 andtransmission stream weight processing unit 118, by using the settransmission weights. The reception terminal receives the trainingsignal, and the channel matrix estimating unit 110 estimates the channelmatrix. In accordance with the estimated matrix, the reception antennaweight calculating unit 111 calculates the reception antenna weight andsets it to the reception antenna weight processing unit 106. Thereafter,the transmission terminal performs the transmission weight process sothat a transmission data signal can be transmitted. The receptionterminal can recover the data signal by using the reception antennaweight, to thus establish communications.

As described above, with the operation of the wireless communicationapparatus shown in FIG. 10, a large communication capacity can berealized without increasing the number of levels of modulation, even ina high SNR communication environment.

It should be further understood by those skilled in the art thatalthough the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of theinvention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

1. A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication methodfor communications between a transmission station having a plurality ofantennas and a reception station having a plurality of antennas, themethod comprising: a first step of obtaining a channel matrix oftransmission paths between said transmission station and said receptionstation in accordance with a reception state of a training signaltransmitted from said transmission station and received at saidreception station, and forming a plurality of eigenmodes of saidtransmission paths through singular value decomposition of said channelmatrix; and a second step of synthesizing at least a fraction of saidplurality of eigenmodes for performing data communications from saidtransmission station to said reception station.
 2. The MIMO wirelesscommunication method according to claim 1, wherein said second stepsynthesizes eigenmodes in the order of a larger singular value.
 3. TheMIMO wireless communication method according to claim 2, wherein saidsecond step adaptively controls the number of levels of modulation andan error-correcting code coding rate of each eigenmode in accordancewith a communication quality of each eigenmode after synthesis of theeigenmodes.
 4. The MIMO wireless communication method according to claim1, further comprising a third step of evaluating a communication qualityindicator of each of said eigenmodes, wherein said second stepsynthesizes one or more eigenmodes having said communication qualityindicator larger than a preset reference value, among said eigenmodes,and the eigenmode having a largest communication quality indicator amongeigenmodes having the communication indicator smaller than the presetreference value.
 5. The MIMO wireless communication method according toclaim 4, wherein an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of eacheigenmode is used as said communication quality indicator.
 6. The MIMOwireless communication method according to claim 5, wherein said secondstep adaptively controls the number of levels of modulation and anerror-correcting code coding level of each eigenmode in accordance witha communication quality of each eigenmode after synthesis of theeigenmodes.
 7. The MIMO wireless communication method according to claim1, wherein said second step adaptively controls the number of levels ofmodulation and an error-correcting code coding rate of each eigenmode inaccordance with a communication quality of each eigenmode aftersynthesis of the eigenmodes.
 8. The MIMO wireless communication methodaccording to claim 4, wherein said second step adaptively controls thenumber of levels of modulation an error-correcting code coding rate ofeach eigenmode in accordance with a communication quality of eacheigenmode after synthesis of the eigenmodes.
 9. A transmission stationin a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systemfor communications between said transmission station having a pluralityof antennas and a reception station having a plurality of antennas, thetransmission station comprising: a stream weight processing unit foradopting a stream weight, synthesizing at least a fraction of aplurality of eigenmodes generated by using a training signal to betransmitted from said transmission station, to a transmission signal;and a wireless communication unit for transmitting said transmissionsignal adopting said stream weight.
 10. The transmission stationaccording to claim 9, wherein said stream weight processing unit usessaid stream weight synthesizing eigenmodes in the order of a largersingular value.
 11. The transmission station according to claim 9,wherein said stream weight processing unit uses said stream weightsynthesizing one or more eigenmodes having a communication qualityindicator larger than a preset reference value, among said eigenmodes,and the eigenmode having a largest communication quality indicator amongeigenmodes having said communication quality indicator smaller than thepreset reference value.
 12. The transmission station according to claim11, wherein an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each eigenmodeis used as said communication quality indicator.
 13. The transmissionstation according claim 12, wherein said stream weight processing unitincludes means for adaptively controlling the number of levels ofmodulation of each eigenmode and means for changing an error-correctingcode coding rate, in accordance with a communication quality of eacheigenmode after synthesis of the eigenmodes.
 14. The transmissionstation according claim 9, wherein said stream weight processing unitincludes means for adaptively controlling the number of levels ofmodulation of each eigenmode and means for changing an error-correctingcode coding rate, in accordance with a communication quality of eacheigenmode after synthesis of the eigenmodes.
 15. The transmissionstation according claim 10, wherein said stream weight processing unitincludes means for adaptively controlling the number of levels ofmodulation of each eigenmode and means for changing an error-correctingcode coding rate, in accordance with a communication quality of eacheigenmode after synthesis of the eigenmodes.
 16. The transmissionstation according claim 11, wherein said stream weight processing unitincludes means for adaptively controlling the number of levels of eacheigenmode and means for changing an error-correcting code coding rate,in accordance with a communication quality of each eigenmode aftersynthesis of the eigenmodes.
 17. A reception station in a multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system for communicationsbetween a transmission station having a plurality of antennas and saidreception station having a plurality of antennas, the reception stationcomprising: a channel matrix estimating unit for estimating a channelmatrix of transmission paths from said transmission station by receivinga training signal transmitted from said transmission station; a streamweight calculating unit for calculating a stream weight synthesizing atleast a fraction of a plurality of eigenmodes of said transmission pathsobtained by said channel matrix; and a transmitting unit fortransmitting information on said stream weight to said transmissionstation, wherein said stream weight calculating unit is used foreigenmode transmission from said transmission station.
 18. The receptionstation according to claim 17, wherein said stream weight calculatingunit synthesizes eigenmodes in the order of a larger singular value. 19.The reception station according to claim 17, wherein said stream weightcalculating unit synthesizes one or more eigenmodes having acommunication quality indicator larger than a preset reference value,among said eigenmodes, and the eigenmode having a largest communicationquality indicator among eigenmodes having said communication qualityindicator smaller than the preset reference value.
 20. The receptionstation according to claim 19, wherein an effective signal-to-noiseratio (SNR) of each eigenmode is used as said communication qualityindicator.